Progress
My Chinese isn't necessarily improving in terms of sentence structures and vocabulary, but the words I do know are coming out with more confidence now and I enjoy my explorations without the fear of being misunderstood. I can negotiate for food and destinations and can pay with exact change easily. I have a life in China. This struck me as amazing yesterday. I know how to get from point A to B and have done so for a while now. I'm still doing new things and have a handful of routines that make living in China very comfortable and homey, even. I'm very excited to be this confident right now because my mom is visiting in a month and a half! How quickly the time has flown by. When she arrives, I will have been in China for six months and I just can't believe how easy the transition has been, continues to be. I was thinking about what my life is in the United States and it is so complicated compared to my current life. I think that's why this has been an easy transition. I have very little worries or responsibilities here (relatively speaking, of course). And, that is why I am certain that RETURNING to the US in eight months is going to be the biggest culture shock of my life. Good thing I have eight more months of living easy to get through!
